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Artist News Legal
R Kelly fan arrested for making YouTube threats against New York prosecutors
By Chris Cooke | Published on Tuesday 28 June 2022
An R Kelly fan and YouTuber was arrested in Chicago this weekend over threats he made in a video to “storm” the US attorney’s office in New York following last year’s court hearing in which the musician was found guilty of running a criminal enterprise in order to abuse young people.
Christopher Gunn posts content to YouTube under the name DeBoSki, with the strapline “fighting for the due process rights of all people”. He has published countless videos about the prosecution of Kelly, often talking about and criticising witnesses and lawyers involved in the criminal cases against the musician, as well as the judge who oversaw last year’s trial in New York.
Gunn’s own arrest relates to a video he made about a week after the guilty verdict was reached in that trial. According to legal papers, that video featured footage of the New York office where prosecutors in the case are based. In his narration, Gunn then allegedly stated “get real familiar with this building” because “if Kellz goes down, everybody’s going down”.
Naming three prosecutors in particular, he also said: “That’s where they work at. We’re going to storm [their] office … If you ain’t got the stomach for the fuck we bout to do, I’m asking that you just bail out”. Shortly after that Gunn shared a clip from the 1991 movie ‘Boyz N The Hood’ showing a character about to be fatally shot.
The legal complaint against Gunn also alleges that he has been accepting payments on CashApp from his subscribers who make comments like “30 rounds… free R Kelly” and “30 rounds on the haters”. An agent at the US Department Of Homeland Security Investigations explained that it’s believed this is evidence that Gunn was selling firearm ammunition to commenters on his YouTube channel.
More recently, Gunn has been calling on his subscribers to gather at Kelly’s sentencing hearing, which is due to take place in New York tomorrow, stating: “I have a spot for us allllll to link during the trial, see you there”.
The YouTuber appeared in court in Chicago yesterday where the criminal case against him, in relation to the threats he has made, was outlined. He is currently in custody, with prosecutors seeking to move him to New York to face the charges.
According to the Chicago Tribune, Gunn’s content is “part of a complicated and apparently lucrative subculture that sprang up on YouTube and social media” after decades of abuse allegations against Kelly finally resulted in extensive charges being filed following the airing of the ‘Surviving R Kelly’ documentary in 2019.
